The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) on 28 September announced a 2018 RIBA International Fellowship for Shane O’Toole.

The RIBA has throughout its history honoured men and women who have made a major contribution to the world of design and in particular architecture. The lifetime honour, conferred annually, allows recipients to use the suffix Int FRIBA.
The 2018 International Fellows come from eleven different countries. Their work represents not only the spirit of their homelands but also transcends it to become truly international in its reference and influence.

Shane O’Toole is an award-winning architectural critic and no longer practicing as an architect. A graduate in architecture from UCD and current Adjunct Associate Professor at the UCD School of Architecture, Planning & Environmental Policy.

An honorary member of the AAI, he has served the profession as President of the AAI, Vice President of the RIAI, inaugural director of the Irish Architecture Foundation, Commissioner for the Venice Biennale and jury member of the Mies van der Rohe Award for contemporary European architecture. He co-founded DoCoMoMo International and DoCoMoMo Ireland, the heritage bodies, and is Chairman of the Irish Architectural Archive’s Collections Development Committee. He was a founder member of Group 91 Architects. He reintroduced the Downes Medal as the AAI’s premier award and established its annual international critic’s lecture programme.

He has co-edited monographs on Kevin Roche and Aldo Rossi, and curated exhibitions on Michael Scott, Liam McCormick and Noel Moffett, among others. He contributed to the pilot inventory of 20th-century architecture in Dublin. He wrote for The Sunday Times for ten years. A member of CICA, the International Committee of Architecture Critics, he was named International Building Press Architecture Writer of the Year in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Gandon also published a collection of his critical essays, 101 Hosannas for Architecture, in March this year.

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There is no better training for students than in Richview, the home of architecture in UCD. This space includes design studios, a well-equipped workshop and building laboratory, exhibition spaces and the most extensive architectural library in the country.

Students are also in the most capable hands here, among the expert faculty are Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Royal Gold Medal 2015 awardees Sheila O’Donnell and Professor John Tuomey, both of whom are also graduates of the School.

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Newman is a multi-storey mixture of the arts and social sciences. With lecture theatres that can house up to 500 students as well as smaller spaces for tutorials, students can share ideas with both their peers and their tutors. Whether it be current politics, history or literature there are a wide array of topics up for debate and discussion.

A gift to the UCD Annual Fund can enable us to award scholarships to students who would typically be excluded from third level education.

UCD also hopes to bring Newman in to the future with a regeneration project that aims to provide students with a student centered academic facility that strengthens the disciplines and schools identity.

The James Joyce Library receives on average one million visits per year. Behind these doors there is vast study space amongst hundreds of books and academic journals. The library’s special collections houses the first documentation of the Flight of the Earls, a letter written to Éamon de Valera as well as numerous manuscripts by some of Ireland’s most celebrated writers such as Frank McGuinness, Edna O’Brien, and Maeve Binchy.

The library’s doors remain open to our alumni long after they graduate, with many retaining membership, your support will enable us to continue to replenish our shelves and preserve our rich cultural heritage.

Redevelopment of the existing James Joyce Library aims to provide a range of modern study and active learning spaces with centralised student-facing support services, in addition to cultural, heritage and public engagement spaces.

The UCD Student Centre is home to the UCD Student Union which aims to promote student wellbeing on campus be it mental health, disability rights, mature students or accommodation support. The UCDSU provides free counselling services as well as running life skills courses for students suffering from depression or anxiety.

Each of the seven schools in the UCD College of Science engages in exciting and internationally recognised research. Research includes drug discovery, development and delivery which aim to identify biomarkers, novel therapeutic targets to guide drug development and target medicines toward specific populations.

Gifts to the UCD Annual Fund can enable us to provide scholarships to undergraduate students to study in the field of science which can lead onto working in areas of research that will benefit us all.

The UCD Sutherland School of Law is the largest law school in the country and opened its doors in 2013 but originally dates back to 1911. Notable alumni include Alumni Award winner Maeve O’Rourke (BCL 2009) who works closely with Dr Katherine O’Donnell and Claire McGettrick of UCD on the Justice for Magdalenes campaign.

Gifts to UCD’s Annual fund can enable us to provide scholarships to students from a variety of backgrounds that would typically exclude them from participating in third level education.